Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan performs earlier this year in Irvine, California. His band first played San Antonio in 1996, at the time in the throes of trauma.

Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan performs earlier this year in Irvine, California. His band first played San Antonio in 1996, at the time in the throes of trauma.

Photo: Courtesy Debi Del Grande

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Click through the gallery to see some of the biggest performers coming to the Alamo City.

Click through the gallery to see some of the biggest performers coming to the Alamo City.

Photo: File

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Hair Metal Holiday with Ace Frehley

Dec. 15, Vibes Event Center

Hair Metal Holiday with Ace Frehley

Dec. 15, Vibes Event Center

Photo: Dave Scherbenco, Associated Press

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Dec. 23, AT&T Center

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Dec. 23, AT&T Center

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Katy Perry

Jan. 10, AT&T Center

Katy Perry

Jan. 10, AT&T Center

Photo: Christopher Polk, Getty Images

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The Moody Blues

Jan. 19, Majestic Theatre

The Moody Blues

Jan. 19, Majestic Theatre

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Marilyn Manson

Jan. 23, Aztec Theatre

Marilyn Manson

Jan. 23, Aztec Theatre

Photo: Imago, TNS

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Shakira

Jan. 29, AT&T Center

Shakira

Jan. 29, AT&T Center

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

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Pvris

March 15, The Azted Theatre

Pvris

March 15, The Azted Theatre

Photo: Getty Images

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Romeo Santos

March 25, AT&T Center

Romeo Santos

March 25, AT&T Center

Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle

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Miguel

April 7, The Aztec Theatre

Miguel

April 7, The Aztec Theatre

Photo: FRED DUFOUR, AFP/Getty Images

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Judas Priest

May 1, Freeman Coliseum

Judas Priest

May 1, Freeman Coliseum

Photo: Brian A. Pounds

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Maren Morris

May 4, Gruene Hall

Maren Morris

May 4, Gruene Hall

Photo: Rick Diamond, Getty Images For The Country Music Hall Of Fame & Museum

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Juanes

May 6, Freeman Coliseum

Juanes

May 6, Freeman Coliseum

Photo: Chris Pizzello, Associated Press

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Maroon 5

June 12, AT&T Center

Maroon 5

June 12, AT&T Center

Photo: Tommaso Boddi, Getty Images For IHeartMedia

Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson arrive together for ‘The End Times’

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Correction: Smashing Pumpkins made its San Antonio debut at Sunken Garden Theater on April 2, 1994.

Original story continues:

Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson have a history here. Co-headlining The End Times Tour, which arrives Saturday at Freeman Coliseum, is the continuing saga.

The first time Marilyn Manson performed in San Antonio, his Alamodome concert in March 1999 was picketed by a Christian evangelist, and a radio talk-show host sounded the alarm on-air.

Manson’s performance — his entrance was a technical, if sacrilegious, marvel as he was hoisted into an upright position like the Bride of Frankenstein on a giant cross of TV monitors (which later was set on fire) — was monitored by no less than 48 San Antonio police officers, one of whom videotaped the much-hyped show.

The officer in charge described the 9,300 goth fans in attendance as “a strange crowd by even strange-crowd standards.”

Smashing Pumpkins arrived for the first time in S.A. in November 1996 for a sold-out concert at Freeman Coliseum under a cloud, scarcely four months after the heroin overdose death of guitarist Jonathan Melvoin and the firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (who had his own substance-abuse issues and was with Melvoin when he died, overdosing, too).

A statement issued at the time by the volatile band about drug use read: “It has destroyed everything we are and stand for.”

Smashing Pumpkins was touring behind “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” an ambitious, epic, two-CD, 28-song album that contained masterpieces such as “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “Beautiful.”

Corgan, shaved bald and donning silver pants, was the front-line focus along with a glamorous D'Arcy on bass and James Iha on lead guitar. All performed passionately.

More Information

Set Lists

Marilyn Manson: Deep Six, Disposable Teens, mOBSCENE, No Reflection, Third Day of a Seven Day Binge, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Angel With the Scabbed Wings, The Love Song, Rock Is Dead, The Dope Show, Lunchbox, Antichrist Superstar, The Beautiful People

Fast-forward, but don’t dare call this a nostalgia tour. Manson is promoting “The Pale Emperor.” Smashing Pumpkins’ latest is “Monuments to an Elegy.” Rolling Stone broached the subject of nostalgia.

“Anybody who calls us a nostalgia show does not know what the (expletive) they are talking about,” Corgan told Rolling Stone.

“Seriously. I mean, he has just released one of the best albums of his career, and my last two albums were super highly reviewed and well received, so they don't know what the (expletive) they are talking about.

Corgan said it was more about friendship, despite the feuds. “At the end of the day, you’ll have two friends onstage singing songs that they love and that they wrote and that they care for. And when the show is over, me and him are going to hang out and laugh and do (expletive) that friends do,” he said.